| TR Junior: Georgia/Washington |
[12 Jun 2010|02:33pm] |
I'm trying something new with this trip report. Since neither Rachel nor I took any notes or kept a journal during this trip, I'm not going to do the exhaustive, all-inclusive rundown that you all know and love. I consider this a "minor" vacation, anyway, as we didn't really go anywhere new or exciting. But I threw in a few nice photos.
( Here we go. )
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| Patriotism |
[26 Feb 2010|10:18am] |
I went bowling last night. Bowled seven games, high of 137, low of 82. Yes, I suck, but I go once a year, what do you want.
Next to us at the bowling alley, there was a huge group of college-age Korean guys. The first thing I noticed about them is that they were all really into each others' games, cheering and clapping for strikes and spares and split conversions.
One of the TVs over the lanes was playing women's figure skating, and when the South Korean skater started her routine, they all stopped what they were doing to watch. Probably 12-15 college-age guys, just standing transfixed, staring at the screen. Some of them were still holding their bowling balls. One guy was even doing little jumps along with the skater onscreen. Of course they all clapped and cheered every time she landed a jump.
The whole thing just made me smile. I'm all for America but the "USA! USA!" crap gets on my nerves sometimes. The US has ruled the world for a century. Sometimes I feel like I'm rooting for Goliath when I cheer on US teams. Anyway, it was kind of cool to see those guys so into that performance and see patriotism from someone else's point of view.
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| Would you believe... |
[29 Jan 2010|10:13pm] |
...this is Qatar?
Realistically I'm never going to go there, but it just moved into my "places I'd go if I were rich" list.
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| Read and remember |
[20 Jan 2010|05:07pm] |
No matter what you think about climate change, this comic makes a point that's worth remembering.
If you use the current weather around you in an attempt to disprove climate change, you are dumb.
And yet people do this in every news forum on every story related to winter weather.
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| Bar none |
[11 Jan 2010|03:00pm] |
Sooo, I went to a bar for a going-away party Friday night. It was the first time I had been inside a straight-up bar in three years, and I was reminded right away why I hate them.
And here's why: TOO. FRICKING. LOUD. I have a soft voice that's difficult for people to understand even in ideal conditions. I literally had to shout as loudly as possible Friday night so the person directly across from me could hear. The people directly next to me were the only people I could talk to all night, because no one else had any chance of hearing me.
Is that fun? Is it fun to have to scream everything you say? What is the point of having a jukebox blasting in places like that? No one's paying any attention to it. Why not go to a restaurant instead, where the noise level is such that you can have a normal conversation?
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| Worst parking job ever |
[02 Jan 2010|01:20pm] |
I don't want to generalize, but every time I go to the grocery store, there is at least one car badly parked in a handicap spot. Not illegally, just badly... like at a 30-degree angle to the lines. I've thought about taking photos of them every week and publishing a book. And if I did that, this one would be on the cover:
Not a handicap spot this time, but... four spaces!
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| Every time a bell rings, this guy gets dumber |
[09 Dec 2009|09:51am] |
So, I was playing a Sporcle quiz yesterday on Jimmy Stewart movies. After I was done, I read the forum about the quiz, and some ignorant tool posted the following:
Who the heck is Jimmy Stewart? You should have picked someone moderately famous, like Jimmy Fallon.
I couldn't believe what I was reading, so I copied it and posted it on another forum that I read all the time. Then, the following conversation took place.
TOOL: who is Jimmy Stewart??
does anyone else besides you know who he is??
ME: I seriously hope you are kidding. Or maybe you just like to show off how dumb you are.
He was an actor who starred in dozens of movies, mainly from the 1930s through 1960s, including some of the best-loved movies of all time such as It's a Wonderful Life, the Philadelphia Story, Vertigo, Rear Window and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
EVERYONE has heard of him. They even made fun of him on SNL in the early 1990s, Jim Carrey played him.
TOOL: Thats probably why I never heard of him (referring to Stewart's age)
And I've only heard of one of those movies and I bet they're all snorefests. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ME: As Abe Lincoln said, "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt."
Rear Window is one of the most exciting movies of all time. ALL of those movies are on the AFI's top 100 movies of all time list.
TOOL: Rear Window is the only one I've ever heard of. Isn't the crippled superman guy in that??
ME: Good God.
No, the "crippled Superman guy" was in the crappy made-for-TV remake that came out like 10 years ago. The original came out in the 1950s.
You've never heard of "It's a Wonderful Life"? It's on TV every Christmas.
TOOL: it doesnt ring any bells.
The irony of that last statement just makes it perfect, don't you think?
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| Ratitude + albums of the decade |
[07 Dec 2009|04:05pm] |
After the Red Album, I came this close to putting Weezer on my "review first" list. That would leave the only bands on my "buy without hearing any songs" list as They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne and Spacehog, and Spacehog broke up like six years ago.
The Red Album was top-loaded with a few excellent songs but side B was pretty much crap. But Weezer has fully redeemed itself and more with "Ratitude," which is excellent through and through. The hip-hop and dance influence is strong in several songs (including an hilarious guest rap from Lil Wayne) and others are just like old times, power pop with Rivers Cuomo's trademark no-self-esteem lyrics. Weezer also has a knack for putting excellent songs last on CDs, as is the case with "Only in Dreams," "Butterfly" and now "I Don't Want to Let You Go." Though the best song this time is "Trippin' Down the Freeway," which I hope gets a single release after "I Want You To" and "I'm Your Daddy," both equally as good.
So "Ratitude" just slipped in my list of best albums of the decade, 2000-2009, although this list should be taken with a grain of salt, since I doubt I heard more than 50 new albums all the way through in the last 10 years. No matter.
Here are the ones that are excellent all the way through, without exception (no bad songs):
They Might Be Giants: The Spine
Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers
Weezer: Raditude
Weezer: Make Believe
Death Cab for Cutie: Plans
Green Day: American Idiot
Linkin Park: Meteora
Now here are the ones that are great except for one bad song:
My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade
Switchfoot: The Beautiful Letdown
And finally, the ones I consider great albums even though they might have two or three songs I don't like very much:
Fountains of Wayne: Traffic and Weather
The Kooks: Inside In Inside Out
Hot Hot Heat: Make Up the Breakdown
Weezer: The Green Album
Maroon 5: Songs About Jane
Collective Soul: Blender
Spacehog: The Hogyssey
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American
They Might Be Giants: Mink Car
soundtrack: Bend It Like Beckham
I also really liked Lasgo's Alone and Cascada's Everytime We Touch, but I'm not about to admit those are good albums.
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| Wandering the West Coast: Trip report, Nov. 7-14, 2009 (part 1) |
[25 Nov 2009|06:13pm] |
I have always been a stalwart defender of Columbus, considered by some to be underappreciated and undervalued in the face of better-known cities such as Cincinnati and Cleveland. People say it's boring and lame, and I reply that no, it's actually a great place to live, and compares favorably to a lot of other cities as far as stuff to see and do.
Well, Columbus is still a good, cheap place to live, but after visiting three amazing cities in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, it's not looking so hot anymore. These cities are exciting places with vibrant downtowns, teeming with all kinds of people all the time. Columbus got so excited about opening a downtown movie theater a few years back... well, guess what? These cities have downtown movie theaters old and new, and it's expected because people actually want to live downtown. These cities have convenient and useful transportation options apart from interstates. They are surrounded on all sides by natural beauty. The journalism is better. The winters are warmer. Everything's just... cooler.
Of course, all of this means property costs four or five times as much and moving is probably just a pipe dream, so I'll have to be content to visit once in a while. And I will.
Report begins now. (Had to break it into three parts, thanks a lot, new LJ rules.)
( If a picture is worth 1,000 words, here are a bunch of words. )
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| Updated states visited map |
[20 Nov 2009|05:16pm] |
Got Oregon and Washington.
Visited US States Map from TravelBlog
Those are pretty good ones, too, as I feel like I saw a good portion of them. Not like Minnesota, where I've seen only the airport, or Wisconsin, where I've seen only the smallest bit of the southeasternmost corner. Or like New Mexico, where I haven't been since I was 10 years old.
Stupid Oklahoma!
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| Coming attractions + a dog's butt |
[17 Nov 2009|06:17pm] |
Just got back from an epic road trip from San Francisco to Seattle. Incredibly long, mind-numbingly detailed trip report with photos and video coming within two weeks.
Until then, enjoy this photo of my dog Millie's butt:
She stayed at Pet Palace while we were gone. Pet Palace gives you a "report card" to show how your dog behaved. On Millie's, they wrote, "Best corgi ever!!!" and four different employees detailed how much fun they had playing with her. I'm proud of my girl.
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| A few thoughts on the new "Christmas Carol" movie |
[02 Nov 2009|07:33pm] |
1) The trailer says, "Based on the greatest Christmas story of all time." It also shows Scrooge flying through the air on some sort of rocket and getting repeatedly bashed with icicles. Hey, maybe there's a reason it's the greatest Christmas story of all time, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve rockets.
2) While Scrooge is flying through the air, he screams, "Humbug." Uh, "humbug" isn't just a random word that you can say for any purpose. Scrooge used it to mean "B.S." or "whatever" or "screw that." You don't say "screw that" when you're flying through the air.
3) "A Christmas Carol," really? Is there another story that's been raped more times by Hollywood? Every single sitcom ever made, including, I'm sure, "Small Wonder," has done at least one parody of it. At least one movie a year is based on it, including that almost certainly retarded "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" that came out last year. Enough already.
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| The genius of Nicholson Baker |
[28 Oct 2009|02:56pm] |
I'm reading Nicholson Baker's new book, "The Anthologist."
I would say he's my favorite writer, but more accurately, he's the only writer whose work I actively seek out. I read books here and there if the subject intrigues me, but anything Baker writes, I will read.
His genius lies in his ability to analyze the mundane. It's like observational humor taken a step further, or several steps further. Seinfeld might say, "Did you ever notice that your shoelaces never break at the same time? What's the deal with that?" Baker brings up the issue, then spends the next five pages expounding on it: the history of shoelaces, the science of shoelaces, his hypotheses. All of it phrased intricately with the kind of language that makes me want to read each sentence twice, just to make sure I'm fully appreciating it.
Baker's books are fiction, but barely. His first book is "The Mezzanine," a book I consider to be my favorite contemporary novel, and the only physical action that takes place in it is that a man rides an escalator from the first floor of his office building to the second. The rest happens in his mind on the way up. Similarly, the inferior but still great "Room Temperature" follows a father's thoughts as he prepares to feed his baby. "A Box of Matches" also uses that format, concerning a man's thoughts as he lights a fire in his fireplace each morning.
"The Everlasting Story of Nory" is a little different, more of a novel feel, but still concerned with the inner existence, only this time it's a little girl's thoughts.
"Checkpoint" was the first book of Baker's that I've read that centered around a theme. Although that theme was morally reprehensible (planning the assassination of George W. Bush), as was the way the story was told (all dialogue, like a play), it still showed flashes of brilliance.
Now I'm reading "The Anthologist," whose theme is poetry. Specifically, the musings of an unsuccessful poet, unlucky in life and love but knowledgeable about rhyme and meter. Most of the keen observations here have to do with poetry, which I'm not particularly a fan of, but Baker makes it intriguing. I'm only halfway through it, but I anticipate putting this one down in the "recommend" column.
I have also read parts of Baker's book of essays on libraries. I haven't touched "The Fermata" or "Vox" because of the unappealing subject matter (one's about a man who freezes time to molest women; the other's about phone sex, and was famously given to Bill Clinton as a gift from Monica Lewinsky), but I may give at least "The Fermata" a try soon. I'm not touching "Human Smoke," Baker's massive nonfiction tome on the Civil War. (or is it World War 1? I forget).
Either way, I think this is the fourth time I've said this here, but you owe it to yourself to read "The Mezzanine." It's short and it will make you laugh, and you will be thinking about it for weeks, if not years.
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| About Wii Play |
[15 Oct 2009|04:39pm] |
So even though I've had it for almost a year now, and even though it's incredibly shallow, and even though it's basically just teaching software designed to show you how to use the Wiimote, I'm obsessed with Wii Play all the sudden.
I think it started when I noticed you can earn bronze, silver, gold or platinum medals in each game. I can't just let a game go when it gives me goals like that. I have to keep trying until I get it. This is the same attitude that led me to complete the entire Story Mode of Mario Party 3 with every character, which of course offered no reward for that 40+ hours of playing time.
Anyway. Getting the platinum medals in Wii Play is surprisingly hard. I've got them in the shooting range, billiards and cow racing. I'm very close in table tennis and fishing. I'm not that close in Find Mii but I'm getting better, so I should get it before too long.
That leaves three games: Tanks, Pose Mii and Laser Hockey. Not even close on any of them. You need 16 points in Laser Hockey for platinum; my best is 9. Similarly, you need 160 tanks in Tanks; I have.... 45. Ugh. I don't even want to think about Pose Mii. My score is like a fourth of what you need and that game stresses me out.
But I must do it. And there better be some sort of reward, too. A small animation, or congratulations text, or a new shirt for my Mii, I don't care. ANYTHING.
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| Weather blows |
[15 Oct 2009|10:04am] |
Indian summer is the best time of the year. The sky is sparkling blue and the leaves are red and orange, but it's warm enough to wear shorts.
Jym Ganahl from NBC4 thinks there's not going to be one this year. Something about sunspots. Whatever. So not only did we not have summer this year, we're not going to have Indian summer, either.
Five days. That's the number of days over 90 degrees this year in Columbus. Blecch. And now we're having the worst possible weather - dark, gray, rainy and on the cusp of freezing - and it's not even close to winter yet. It makes me sad.
Hopefully they're having Indian summer in the Pacific Northwest this year. :D
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| One awesome thing |
[14 Oct 2009|06:42pm] |
I've been reading the website "1000 Awesome Things" pretty much every weekday since it started... decent writing but the idea is great. In the spirit of that, here is one awesome thing I realized is awesome the other day.
And that thing is: When you're at a restaurant and you've eaten all you can eat, and you're so stuffed you're about to vomit, and you can't even bear to look at your leftovers, but then something inside you convinces you to take it home anyway, and then the next day you open the fridge and see it there, and it tastes delicious and makes a whole meal, and you are happy you brought it home, and run-on sentences.
That is all.
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| Starbucks rumors confirmed |
[07 Oct 2009|03:32pm] |
I've spent the better part of the last 10 years telling myself (and other people, when the subject is breached) that I dislike Starbucks because the coffee is bitter and gross.
I just came to the realization the other day that I've never actually had a cup of coffee from Starbucks. Every time I've ever gone there, I've had tea in some form. I've had Starbucks ground coffee at home and in hotel rooms, but not at a coffeeshop.
So I remedied that today. And it's true: Starbucks coffee is bitter and gross. Not so much that I wasn't able to drink the whole cup, but it wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience.
Also confirmed: Starbucks coffee is more expensive. Not the proverbial "$4 coffee" that everyone talks about, but $1.65 for the smallest size, which is "tall," wtf. Actually I ordered a "short," which according to the interwebs is an unadvertised smaller size that all Starbucks stores have, but what I got was a tall at the tall price, so apparently the interwebs are full of crap, as per usual.
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